


Nepeta's World

by InsertInterestingNameHere



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-13
Updated: 2012-09-13
Packaged: 2017-11-07 15:10:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/432519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsertInterestingNameHere/pseuds/InsertInterestingNameHere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat has always blamed himself for what he did to his cousin. He just never thought he'd have a chance to fix it. Now, trapped in her dream world, Karkat must find a way to convince her that it's not real before time runs out. In this fantastical land he runs into the interesting characters that roam the world. And in short I suck at summaries, just read and find out how it all goes down, will you?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to the end

The girl giggles brightly, clapping her hands, absolutely thrilled. “Come on! Come on!” she cries dragging you across the street by the hand. You laugh and follow, grinning widely. The girl stops when she notices she dropped her cat. “Oh no! Jasper!” She turns back to grab at the matted and tattered cat toy she always drags along. You think nothing of this and instead continue on your way across the street, laughing without a care in the world. Until you hear the horn honking in a panic. Screeching, and then a thud sound from behind. That’s when the screaming starts. Eyes wide you turn, smile frozen in place. There in the middle of the street lies the person.  


She is about six or seven years old with short curly hair covered by a knit blue cat hat. She’s wearing a jean pinafore, a petticoat type skirt underneath. Tiny feet are tucked into a set of mary-janes , white knee socks climbing out of them. A black stuffed cat with a devilish smile lays two feet in front of her, covered in a sticky red coat. She’s lying on her stomach and she’s not moving.  
You walk over, legs weighing a ton, each step seemingly taking an hour. Your thoughts are foggy, disbelieving. You reach her side in seconds and try to move her. A person tries to shoo you away but you ignore them and lift the little raven-haired girl into your arms with shaking hands.  


“....” You whisper her name over and over as eyes begin to water. She’s still smiling up at you, green eyes in a half cresent. Rosy cheeks are beginning to turn red with the fluid slipping from the top of her head. You resist as people try to pull you away from the girl and begin sobbing over her.  


The ambulance has arrived now and they’re taking her away. You can hardly see through your tears as you struggle against the policeman who had arrived at some point. A strange garbled, screeching noise is echoing around you. It takes a minute for you to realize that it is coming from you, all the pain and panic you’re feeling morphing into one inhuman noise.  
Strangers around you are holding hushed conversations, rumors and lies flying about you and the girl in the blue hat. But you can’t hear it. Your entire focus is on the closing doors of the ambulance and how that should be you in there. You finally break from the officer’s grip and go racing after the vehicle, her name ripping it’s way from your throat yet again, but it’s too late and as you fall to your knees you slip through the asphalt.  


Suddenly you’re alone in darkness, floating. You hover a few moments then suddenly, familiar faces and friends are surrounding you. Their black eyes pierce into you as you float past, but their gaze is not nearly as biting as their words.  


“Should have died instead”  


“It’s his fault,”  


“I hear he pushed her,”  


Their words become more and more cruel as you drift through their tight ring. Suddenly the blackness beneath you changes into a suffocating ooze. No matter how hard you struggle you can’t seem to pull yourself out of the translucent sludge. You’re immersed in it now, clawing and fighting to reach out to someone for help, but they just watch you with wide smiles. It’s almost as if they’re happy to watch you sink further and further in. 

You awake with a start, drenched in sweat. It’s still dark in your sparsely decorated room, moonlight drifting in through an open window. You pant, clutching the white sheets underneath you, eyes darting about in a panic. “Just a dream. It was only a dream,” You mutter, but you know that’s a lie. It’s a memory that haunts your every night. That perfect little face smiling up at you every time you close your eyes. You lay back on your cool pillows after a moment, sighing deeply.  


Your name is Karkat Vantas, and you are hold yourself personally responsible for the coma your young cousin has been in for almost eight years.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's not nearly as long as I would like. I wanted to get this up today. And thank you guys so much for reading this!

When you wake up again the sun is up. Your thoughts are sluggish as you stare at the door to your room for a moment, unseeing. It feels good to just lay there and _breathe_. It lets you think. You can feel the echoes of your dream somewhere in your mind, but you brush it off. There’s no way around the inevitable and your door swings open, revealing two people standing there. One is a tall, kind looking girl with flippy black hair standing with a tray of food, looking surprised. It looks as if she hadn’t been expecting the other to just open the door. The other is sending you a shark grin, or at least one in your direction. She swings a long cane back and forth in front of her; though with how often she’s there it isn’t needed.

With a mental sigh you scowl at the pair. “What in the fucking world gave you permission to come into my fucking room?” You snarl sitting up, though both girls’ know there’s no venom behind the comment. The blind girl drops next to you on the bed as the other girl comes and places it on his bedside table. She smiles and brushes your hair from your forehead before sitting beside Shark Girl.

“Well, I had been planning on knocking, however, Terezi insisted on simply barging in.” Terezi grins as she’s mentioned.

“What kind of friends would we be if we just waited Kanaya?” Her grin, if possible grew larger. You shake your head and stretch. You have absolutely no comment to that. Not that it matters, because the tall girl is talking again.

“Polite ones,” she says in response to the other’s rhetorical one, “Also, Happy Birthday Karkat,” Kanaya turns directing her kind smile at you. You mutter a quiet ‘thank you’ and look to the sheets again. Terezi cackles and lays backwards across your legs, pointing her cane in the air.

“Happy birthday Karkles!” She proceeds to write in the air with her cane what you think was supposed to be Happy Birthday, but looks more like a jumbled mess. A third figure comes to the door, knocking briskly on the wood. A tall, lanky boy with blond hair, a pair of 3D glasses resting over a smirk.

“I miss anything?” He asks, strolling in to the room. He has an obvious lisp, though it’s not as noticeable now, probably because you’re used to it. Terezi cackles again before you can respond.

“Yes, Karkles just confessed his undying love for me! But alas, I had to turn the poor boy down,” The other boy raises a brow as he reaches the side of your bed.

“Oh really? You cheated on me KK?” He asks, smirk morphing into a mocking grin. Behind you Kanaya chuckles, amused. You roll your eyes.

“Ha ha Sollux. I’m just fucking busting a gut here.” You snark. He does his weird giggle-chuckle-thing and drops to sit beside you on the bed. At this point the four of you are pretty much in a huge pile, tangled all over each other. You grunt and attempt to remove yourself, scowling at everyone, though there’s no malice behind it. Once you manage it you glance around your room once more.

It’s probably bigger than some of the other one’s here, but it’s still rather small if you and Sollux lay across the floor toe to toe you could probably stretch the length of it. A small window overlooks a bustling city. Horns, sirens, and barking dogs float from the ground below, the noise and smog drifting in is almost suffocating. The walls are soft pastel blue wallpaper, or at least they had been before you began picking at it. The floors are made of worn and rickety wood, splinters frequenting any unlucky victims. The bed they all rest on is just as battered as the walls and floors. An unstable metal frame that threatens to break at any moment holds an old uncomfortable mattress that probably gives you more back problems than you should have. The pillows and blankets however are rather nice, scraps that Kanaya had gathered from her work and turned into them.

You stretch once more, still trying to wake up. When suddenly a cane swings back, managing to catch you on the forehead and leave a rather nice red line as a reward.

“Ow! Jesus fuck Terezi! What the hell?!” You snarl, holding the new wound. She frowns for a moment before the grin returns.

“Tell Nep hi for us,” She says sitting up as you walk around the bed and grab a piece of toast. You nod, still scowling and head out into the hall. It’s not until you’re out of the main wing of the building that you relax.

The shadows along the dimly lit hall remind you of the sludge from the dream. Though, at this point everything reminds you of it. The crappy little drawings pasted to the walls are her dreams. The damp and stained carpet beneath you is her stupid hat and cat she carried. The flickering and dimming lights above you are a reminder of the life that you cut short.

Morbid thoughts drift in and out of your mind like waves crashing and sending you deeper and deeper into your psych to the point when you don’t even notice when you crash into someone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit longer, so yay! I promise the johnkat will show up after a few chapters, I just need to cover him getting into the dream world first and set up a background.  
> Also, on a lighter note, this story will probably update every couple days up until the 11th of next month, so I hope everyone looks forwards to the next chapters!

“Oi, watch where you’re going,” The snobby European voice lost its intimidation points with that ridiculous stutter it possesses. He’s dressed much more elegantly than any of the other kids here in the house. He’s wearing a ridiculous looking purple and indigo scarf that he insists is the latest fashion- though most of you know that’s utter bull. His unique purple eyes are masked behind thick lenses that are constantly mocked. His hair is even more absurd, brown hair slicked back with his characteristic purple streak.

You roll your eyes skyward and attempt to push past the boy. You don’t have time to deal with this asshole and just want to get to Nep’s room, however the boy holds you in place. His grip is loose and you easily slide out of it and attempt to continue on your way.

“I expect an’ apology!” He snaps and grabs your arm once more. He yanks you back so you’re standing a foot away.

“Fuck you Eridan, I have better things to be doing than arguing with a prick with his thumb shoved up his ass.” You sigh, used to this asshole. His eyes narrow and he pulls you closer so what he yells next lets loose a rain of spittle.

“Know your place, scum. If it wasn’t for my dad you wouldn’t even be living here. You’d be back in the streets where you should be.” He looks you over, sizing you up for some reason. In all honesty, if he punched you right now it wouldn’t be that hard to do, you’re kind of small for your age. You’re saved however by a yell.

“Eridan!” It’s more like a shriek though you suppose.

The two of you turn around to take in a pair of girls standing at the end of the hall. One, the taller and fit looking girl, practically reeks of aristocracy, though her looks don’t reflect it. Her long wavy hair is held in a high ponytail. Her bangs also held back, but by a small circlet wrapping around the light strands. Her gnawed fingernails rest on her hips angrily, her blue eyes watching you two furiously.

The other has long dark curly hair that just grazes her lower back. She’s watching you both amusedly, delicate hands folded over her long skirt. Her brown gaze is slightly intimidating, as it never gravitates, almost like a robot. She smiles and flashes a peek to the girl beside her before looking at you again, calculatingly.

“Fef!” The boy above you, or Eridan as he’s been revealed to be, drops your arm with surprise and glances between you and she a few times, seemingly scandalized. You shake your head and walk past the siblings, not in the mood to hear the bickering that will undoubtedly occur. The second girl reaches to touch your arm gently.

“The Rogue will wake soon Knight. Do not worry,” She offers a smile and turns back to watch as ‘Fef’ and Eridan wrestle, complete with hair pulling and biting. You stare at her confused but shake it off and continue on your way, trying to avoid running into any of your other crazy house mates.

Speaking of which, explanation is in order. After the accident your parents, who had been raising both you and Nepeta who’s own parents had died years before, hadn’t been able to pay the expensive medical bills that resulted from it. They went into debt, and their already barely livable life turned for the worse. It had gotten to the point that you were all eating whatever a kind neighbor brought over for dinner. Your father always remained hopeful and positive, speaking as if this was all a bad dream and everything would be ok. Your mom stayed busy, sewing and running around town to find a third job. It was around that time that you got depressed. It wasn’t bad to the point of killing yourself, but more to the point of wondering what would happen if you did. So, at 10 you walked right up to them and told them to put you and Nep up for adoption.

They had been shocked, heartbroken. Your mom had started crying and clutching you tightly, saying she would never give up her ‘little cub’. Your dad had been on the brink. But, being the knowledgeable man he is, he actually thought it over and talked to your mom. Mom and Dad fought for the first time that night. They screamed and yelled, words and objects flying across their run down living room. You sat in your bed room, clutching the hand sewn crab your mom had made back when this whole fiasco started.

The next day, early in the morning you packed your own bag and swiped the hospital papers from the bookshelf, along with both yours and Nep’s birth certificates. Then after you were sure your parents were still asleep and would find the note you left, walked an hour away to the nearby Home. You knocked on the door and strode on into the building, handing the papers to the owner, simply stating that you needed a place to live until your parents could take care of you again. The man had smiled, impressed with your bravery. He asked if you were sure this was what you wanted to do and when you nodded, guided you inside.

When your parents found out, they had mourned for months. You, yourself had as well, but when Damian Ampora, or as the other kids called him, Dualscar because of the twin scars marring his face, began paying for Nepeta’s hospital bills, you knew it would all pass in time. What happened next however, you had not been expecting. A serial killer, simply known as the Subjugglator, attacked your parents.

The pair had been on their way home from the church your dad had just started working at when he struck.  The murder had apparently been a racist who had been attacking mixed married couples left and right. He backed them into what he thought was a secluded alley and pulled out an old pistol. Your father had somehow managed to shield your mom, and took all of the six shots fired. The man had run after that as a neighbor had heard and had called the cops. Your father died on the way to the hospital. The brave man, Kankri Vantas had been revered in the newspapers for saving your mother, Meulin Leijon-Vantas from a terrible fate. They treated him like a hero. He deserved to be one. You went to the funeral, though you stayed out of sight for fear of your mother catching sight of you. If she did, she didn’t say anything. Her world had come crashing down around her, and a month later a second funeral was held for her.

Dualscar had moved Nepeta to the house after that, thinking you might like to have a family member close during these dark times. It was also around this time that you met the others, not by choice though.

You had been sitting alone in Nepeta’s room, telling the younger girl about everything that had been happening. How much you missed your mom and dad and how you wish you had been there when the Subjugglator had attacked, though you knew it wouldn’t have been any good.  You didn’t talk to any of the other’s living in the huge house, content to just stay by Nepeta’s side. When the door opened, you ignored it, thinking it was just Damara, the maid, come to change the fluid pouches attached to the IV. You scrubbed at your tears, even though you knew she had seen them time and time again. What you hadn’t expected was a huge sloppy kiss on your cheek.

With a screech you had toppled out of your chair, backing away from a snickering girl who looked to be a year or so younger than you. She had on a poorly made pair of dragon wings that looked to be catching in her red hair. She wore a pair of oversized red glasses that looked bent out of shape. She swung her small cardboard tube in the air and charged towards you.

“En garde evil doer! All those who frown in the princess’s kingdom shall face the wrath of the great dragon!” She cheered, waving it about madly and walking towards you slowly, as if watching her step. You stared at her in shock as she managed to turn and run head first into a wall.

“Are you stupid or something?! What the hell was that for?!” You snarl, watching as she rubs her now injured nose with a groan. All the past few months come spewing out, and suddenly you’re screaming at this strange girl. “What the hell kind of moron are you?! You run in here and whack with some god damned oversized toilet roll and yell at me that I’m supposed to guard myself because some princess doesn’t like it when I frown?! That’s just retarded. This whole thing is retarded! How can anyone around here even freaking smile we’re all freaking orphans! What do we have to smile about! Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Zip! Zero! And are you freaking blind or something?! If a door’s shut it means you’re supposed to stay out! So get out, take your stupid fake wings and stupid fake sword and leave me alone!” You yell, fists clenched tight at your sides in rage. The girl cracks a grin.

“So you do have other modes besides just angry.” Then, she turns tail and walks out without a word, leaving you panting and furious, to just stare after her.

After you leave, a few minutes after her, you walk down the hall towards your own room, peeking into another when you hear a furious clicking. A blond boy about the same age as you sits at a computer, hands flying over a keyboard hooked up to a black computer screen, lines of green flouting across it. Without meaning to, you’ve taken a step into the doorway.

“If you’re going to jutht gawk there then you might ath well come in,” He says and the lisp is so heavy it takes you a second to understand. You hesitated a moment then walk in; he had always seemed like one of the more sane kids around here. You stare, transfixed at the lines of code that zip across the screen.

“What are you doing?” You ask after a minute, taking a few steps closer. His eyes shift to you momentarily, the heterochromic, blue and almost red eye catching his own.

“Hacking and programing, duh.” Was his response. You stand awkwardly for a bit longer before you decide to leave him to his work. You glance around and slowly back out.

“Right, well, Bye.” You can feel the mismatched eyes boring into you as you leave the room.

Later, you’re in the kitchen trying to find some food. You usually skip breakfast, not wanting to sit with the other kids in the building. You’ve managed to open the fridge when you hear the door open. With a jolt you scan the room and duck behind the island, covering your head, fearing Mindfang the cook as they call her, is back and is going to chop off your hand like she threatened to do last time she caught you. Instead you’re surprised to see a girl peek over the counter.

She has short black hair that frames her face in a pixie cut. Her green eyes are peering at you curiously, her hands moving quickly, stitching what appears to be a stuffed animal. She’s probably at least a year older than you, if you would take a guess. She walks around the counter and crouches down next to you, head tilted and curious look turning into a smile.

“Hello there,” She says and you glare at her suspiciously and clutch the crab you had taken to carrying around with you.

“Hi.” You mutter and watch as she stands back up.

“I know where they hide the cookies if you’re hungry,” she offers, though it appears she is a little unsure on the prospect of giving you sweets.

“Cookies are shit.” You snap. Eye’s narrowing; you stand, still clutching the toy. “I can make my own food. I’m 10.” You say and turn on your heel, not noticing when you bump headfirst into the pot holder that was dangling there. You fall back, startled and hold your head, sniffling. First you get whacked in the head while watching your cousin, then slightly scared by a hacker, and now this? You sniffle miserably. It just wasn’t fair. You wanted your dad and your mom. You wanted them to walk through that door and hold you close. You wanted your mom to sing one of her songs and call you her little cub. You missed playing with her long blond hair while your dad made jokes. You can feel tears’ streaming down your cheeks again, along with what you think is probably snot.

“Oh honey,” a soft voice murmurs, and suddenly you’re enveloped in a gentle hug, a hand pressing your face to a chest. And you break; you just start crying, harder than you have ever cried. The hold is so similar to your mother’s that you can’t take it. The girl doesn’t mind as you bury a snot covered face into her pretty shirt, probably staining it. She just sits there, holding you and stroking your hair while muttering and shushing you. “It’s ok dear, just let it all out,” she murmurs. So you do. You’re not sure how long you two sat there, clutching her tightly and sobbing. It was apparently enough for two others to come into the kitchen. The crazy dragon girl and the creepy hacker from earlier walked to where you and the strange older girl were. The pair walked closer and simply sat next to  you, the girl patting your back and the boy just sitting there, as if unsure what to do.

And that was how you met your best friends, Sollux, Terezi and Kanaya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I created a tumblr for this story, and will add some pictures on there for you to see as the story goes along. Right now it just has a portrait of Karkat's parents with him. nepetasworld.tumblr.com


	4. Chapter 4

After successfully avoiding any of the other lunatic in the house, you stare at the childishly decorated door in front of you. Pictures that the girls had helped you draw at a young age cover the olive green door. Badly drawn pictures of hearts, flowers, smiles, and what was probably supposed to be a cat. The tape holding the pages to the door is peeling slightly from age and you wonder briefly if you should take the tape off and replace it. With a shrug you enter into the room.  
  
The room itself is most likely the fourth biggest in the house- Dualscar, Eridan, and Feferi’s being the biggest. The window is floor length and covers almost the entire west wall overlooking the city. The walls are a softer shade of green that reflects off the finely polished wood of the floor in there, your own doing.  
  
An soft coral colored armchair sits against one wall, a indention clearly worn into it’s cushions, resting in the very middle of the depression is a small stuffed red crab. You head towards the chair, narrowly avoiding the run in with the bookshelf sitting beside it. You grab a book off of it at random and take a seat, brushing the toy from its original position. You flip to a marked page quickly and look up towards the bed two feet away.  
  
Her face is as ashen as porcelain, long eyelashes brushing over faintly rosy cheeks. Long wavy hair cascades over her shoulders, just barely grazing her collarbone. A medical gown covers all of her and extends past the cat pattern quilt resting over her stomach and down. Wires is the only thing that mars that lovely skin, the chords extending to the steadily dripping IV and the constant ‘beep’ of the heart monitor. Glancing over the vitals, as Damara had showed him time and time again. When nothing seems out of the ordinary he looks back to the book in front of him and begins to read with a small smile.  
  
 _“-’The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID was, `Why is a raven like a writing-desk?' “_ He had been reading this book to her over and over again lately, enjoying when her heartbeat would seemingly pick up when he did, though he knew it was just his imagination running away with him.  
  
 _“ `Come, we shall have some fun now!' thought Alice. `I'm glad they've begun asking riddles.--I believe I can guess that,' she added aloud._  
 _`Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?' said the March Hare._  
 _`Exactly so,' said Alice._  
 _`Then you should say what you mean,' the March Hare went on. “_ Karkat stuffed back a yawn as he continued, being woken up earlier than usual beginning to affect him.  
  
 _“ `I do,' Alice hastily replied; `at least--at least I mean what I say--that's the same thing, you know.'_  
 _`Not the same thing a bit!' said the Hatter. `You might just as well say that "I see what I eat" is the same thing as "I eat what I see"!'_ “ He glanced up at his slumbering cousin briefly, smiling and continuing reading the book.  
  
` _You might just as well say,' added the March Hare, `that "I like what I get" is the same thing as "I get what I like"!'_  
 _`You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, `that "I breathe when I sleep" is the same thing as "I sleep when I breathe"!'_  
 _`It IS the same thing with you,' said the Hatter, and here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute-_ ” Karkat glanced up startled when the monitor started to beat abnormally fast. When the alarms attached to her began to beep and blare loudly he put the book down and rose unsurely, panic sweeping through him like a tsunami. He glanced around frantically trying to figure out what he could do to try and help her.  
  
The door flew open and in strode Damara, still buttoning up her work dress. The long strands that hung from her hair were dripping wet and splattered on the sheets as she looked over Nepeta. She sent an alarmed glance to Karkat, gesturing desperately at the defibrillator hanging on the wall across from her. You nod and race over to it, sending glances back at the pair. Grabbing the flourescent yellow box with shaky hands you bring it to Damara, letting her take over. As she performed  cpr and worked on getting the defibrillator working you twittered about her madly, eyes wide.  
  
This was the fifth time in the past three months, and the second time these past two weeks that something like this had happened. Dr. Scratch had said that he should just accept the inevitable and pull the plug, but you refused. You had refused so adamantly in fact, that Kanaya had to come into the room to keep you from strangling the Doctor. That had been a month ago and it only seemed to be getting worse and worse with each passing day.  
  
Sollux had come in now, wondering what the sounds that had been echoing through his walls was for. His face paled when he took in the sight of the determinedly working Damara and you pacing with a plainly distraught look on your face. Without a word he stepped behind you and began to lead you out before you could collapse in hysterics.  
  
You followed obediently, grateful that he had come to investigate. He led you past the other doors back towards your own and shielded you from view as other kids began to peek out of their rooms curiously.  
  
She can’t. No. She can’t leave me. I don’t want to be alone again. I can’t be alone again, please don’t leave me Nep, I promise I’ll be good, I’ll read better stories and draw better pictures, and- Your thoughts drifted over your lips in a hush, so caught up in your panic that you didn’t even realize that you had made it back to your room now.


End file.
